Americans United - Bryan Fischerhttps://www.au.org/tags/bryan-fischer
enFischer Foul: Far Right Hate Group Demotes Fringe Radio Host Ahead of Israel Triphttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fischer-foul-far-right-hate-group-demotes-fringe-radio-host-ahead-of-israel
<a href="/about/people/ms-sarah-jones">Sarah Jones</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow broke the news that Fischer is out of a job—one of them, at least. He’s been demoted, and will no longer serve as AFA’s spokesman, although he gets to keep his radio show.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Perhaps you’ve heard of Bryan Fischer who, until recently, held a top spot at the American Family Association (AFA).</p><p>In fact, it’s slightly more likely you’ve heard of Fischer than you have his employer, at least by word of mouth. He likes to make an impact and in this endeavor he certainly succeeds. Right Wing Watch <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-clarifies-gay-activists-are-satans-prisoners-war">reports</a> that just this week, he claimed on his radio broadcast that LGBTQ people have been “taken captive” by Satan himself. </p><p>Until yesterday, Fischer made these claims with the AFA’s full backing. But last night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/bryan-fischer-fired-ahead-of-rnc-israel-trip-390575171843">broke the news</a> that Fischer is out of a job—one of them, at least. He’s been demoted, and will no longer serve as AFA’s spokesman, although he gets to keep his radio show.<br /><br />So what compelled the AFA, which has been labelled a <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/american-family-association">hate group</a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center, to restrict Fischer’s platform on their behalf? Pragmatism.</p><p>As MSNBC <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/afa-ousts-bryan-fischer-group-spokesperson">reports</a>, the AFA and the Republican National Committee (RNC) are co-sponsoring a trip to Israel. A number of Republican luminaries, including RNC head Reince Priebus, are participating in the trip. They didn’t seem troubled by Fischer’s record. Israeli officials, however, felt otherwise.</p><p>You see, Fischer is fond of claiming that gay people are responsible for the Holocaust. In 2013, he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/gay-rights-nazis-bryan-fischer-_n_3862548.html">insisted</a> that the Nazi Party “began in a gay bar in Munich” and that Hitler employed “homosexual stormtroopers” to enforce his regime. He has also <a href="http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2010/05/9011/">endorsed</a> Scott Lively’s <em>The Pink Swastika</em>, which asserts that LGBTQ people orchestrated the Holocaust. As Sarah Posner noted at Religion Dispatches, Fischer has <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/bryan-fischer-out-at-the-american-family-association/">worked extensively</a> with Lively.</p><p>A note on timing: Holocaust survivors marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Tuesday.</p><p>So Fischer is demoted, and the AFA-RNC Israel trip is on. He’s still working as a radio host for the group, still drawing a salary and still enjoying a public platform on their behalf. It’s evident that the AFA’s leadership isn’t really that repelled by his views. They’ve had years to take action against him, but only did so when he threatened their political connections.</p><p>His greatest hits could fill a book, so here’s a brief summary: Fischer insists that President Obama (a favorite target) <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/obama-gay-christian-bryan-fischer-_n_6509366.html">is a Muslim</a>, not a Christian, and that he is also racist against white people. He’s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-obama-and-holder-are-racists-and-anyone-who-calls-someone-racist-liar">made similar statements</a> about outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.<br /><br />And let us not forget the ladies. “Women are not wired, either by evolution or by God, whoever is responsible for this difference, they are not prepared by DNA and innate personality characteristics to be in those positions,” he <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/02/15/426467/byran-fischer-women-are-not-prepared-by-dna-to-serve-in-combat/">once said</a> of women in combat. (The Pentagon <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/18/politics/women-combat/">disagrees</a>.)</p><p>Fischer shouldn’t have been demoted. He should have been fired. And the RNC should refuse to partner with the AFA until that happens. That goes for La. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), too; Jindal recently appeared at an <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/the_response_jan_24.html">AFA-sponsored prayer rally</a>.</p><p>It is unconscionable that elected officials are willing to compromise the integrity of their positions by working alongside a group that employs a man like Bryan Fischer. His views are totally antithetical to the founding principles of American democracy; they are incompatible with true religious freedom and with a modern understanding of human rights. The sort of theocracy for which he campaigns should be roundly condemned, not tolerated in the name of political expediency.</p><p>It’s time for Fischer to go—for good. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/israel">Israel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/lgbt">LGBT</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span></div></div>Thu, 29 Jan 2015 17:23:51 +0000Ms. Sarah Jones10835 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fischer-foul-far-right-hate-group-demotes-fringe-radio-host-ahead-of-israel#comments(Un)Fantastic Five: A Remembrance Of Values Voter Summits Pasthttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/unfantastic-five-a-remembrance-of-values-voter-summits-past
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">More fun than a trip to Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan! It&#039;s the Values Voter Summit! </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The Religious Right’s annual “Values Voter Summit” (VVS) takes place this weekend. Americans United staffers Simon Brown, Sarah Jones and I will be there. (Barry Lynn usually pops in too, in case anyone wants to take a selfie with him.)</p><p>If you are a religious person, please pray for us. If you’re not religious, please forward some recommendations for stress-relief strategies – favorite liquors, ice-cream brands, yoga positions, etc. – as I suspect we’ll all need some way to unwind when this thing is over.</p><p>The Summit is sponsored primarily by the Family Research Council along with the American Family Association, Liberty Counsel and others. I’ve been to a lot of these meetings over the years. Today I’d like to share with you five of my favorite (and by “favorite” I actually mean “most offensive”) speakers from Summits past – with a little information about what makes them so special.</p><p><strong>Herman Cain: </strong>Does anyone remember Herman Cain? Do the phrases “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/herman-cains-misleading-pitch-for-the-999-plan/2011/10/12/gIQAHszPgL_blog.html">9-9-9</a>” and “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/10/09/339879/cain-uzbekistan-beki-beki-stan-stan/">Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan</a>” ring a bell? Cain, you might recall, is a former pizza magnate who inexplicably became the Republican Party’s presidential front-runner for a brief period in 2011. He appeared at the Summit the same year, and I have to say, he wowed the crowd.</p><p>Unfortunately, it was all style, no substance. Cain’s platform consisted of a string of simplistic ideas passed off as homespun wisdom. Virtually no one who looked at his proposals seriously believed they could work. But he presented well, and his speech at VVS was an effective mix of fiery denunciations of President Barack Obama, humor and hubris. At one point he told the crowd, “My challenge to you is stay informed because we are up against a lot of stupid people in America.” (You don’t say!)</p><p>Cain had a lot of promise. No one, other than Cain himself, actually believed he was going to be president, but he could have worked the Religious Right’s speaking circuit for years propelled by his incredible bombast. Alas, not long after that speech, he started having trouser-related problems and was soon out of the race. Although he still works the Tea Party crowd, Cain hasn’t been back to the Summit since.</p><p><strong>Newt Gingrich:</strong> Smug and arrogant, the thrice-married serial adulterer Newt Gingrich is a VVS institution, even though he’s really just a walking sack of <em>chutzpah</em> on legs. Given his own checkered past when it comes to respecting the bonds of marriage, you would think Gingrich would refrain from accusing gays of trying to undermine that institution. But you would be wrong. He does it all of the time.</p><p>Gingrich is often lauded as a right-wing intellectual; I’ve never understood why. His grasp on American history and the text of the Constitution he claims to revere have always been tenuous at best. He seems to labor under the delusion that the United States was founded to be a religious state, and the last time I heard him speak he went on and on about his plan, if elected president, to remove federal judges who dare hand down rulings affirming the separation of church and state. He seemed untroubled by the fact that nothing in the Constitution gives the president the power to do that.</p><p>Gingrich’s own ethical lapses, of course, are <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/gingrich-congressional-ethics-scandal-explained-newt-inc">well known</a>. That doesn’t stop him from judging everyone else.</p><p><strong>Star Parker:</strong> I’ve had the misfortune to hear Star Parker speak perhaps a dozen times. Prior to her appearances at the Summit, she was a regular fixture at the Christian Coalition’s “Road to Victory” events during the 1990s.</p><p>Parker’s claim to fame – and it’s a very old, tired story – is that she says she was once a drug addict and welfare mother who lived in a taxpayer-subsidized luxury apartment with a swimming pool, fireplace and sunken living room in California. (Jesus delivered her from all that.) As far as I know, no one has ever bothered to check her implausible story.</p><p>Parker doesn’t so much speak as she does scream. She’s frequently incoherent and usually delivers a stream-of-consciousness rant that careens from one Bible verse to another. Also, she <em>really</em> does not like liberals, gay people or atheists.</p><p><strong>Bryan Fischer: </strong>The American Family Association’s resident extremism czar, Fischer first came to my attention some years ago after he wrote a column suggesting that a killer whale at SeaWorld that had killed a trainer should be executed. You see, that’s what the Bible calls for. (You might have seen <a href="http://blackfishmovie.com/">this documentary</a>, which explores the issue with considerably more nuance.)</p><p>Since then, Fischer has unleashed a <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/values-void-religious-right-group-says-southern-poverty-law-center-is-agent">string of gems</a>: implying that women’s suffrage was a mistake, asserting that states can ban Islam, demanding religious tests in the military, opining that the lack of mandatory prayer in public schools led to the Newtown, Conn., school shootings and so on.</p><p>Fischer’s actually not a very compelling speaker. His main attraction is that you never know what he’s going to say next – but you can be sure that it will be pretty insane. At the 2009 VVS, he informed the crowd that Adolf Hitler had invented the separation of church and state.</p><p><strong>Glenn Beck: </strong>Listening to Glenn Beck speak is like watching an avant-garde movie. You might not know what’s going on most of the time, but it’s just strange enough that you keep looking.</p><p>Beck’s delivery is so dramatic and staged that it’s often easy to overlook the fact that what he’s saying makes no sense. The last time I heard him speak, I was uncertain if I had just heard the ramblings of a madman or a brilliant piece of performance art. He’s a lot like Howard Beale from “Network.” He goes on and on, and you keep waiting for him to tell you to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINDtlPXmmE">stick your head out the window</a>. But in the end, he’s crying and you feel like it too.</p><p>I’m still not convinced that Beck actually believes the things he says – can an entire belief system rest on word salad? – but there’s no denying that it does pay the bills.</p><p align="center">* * *</p><p>I’m not sure that this year’s event can top any of that, but we’re about to find out.</p><p>Although I poke fun, don’t get the wrong idea. These people are scary. There is one thing you can’t deny about the Values Voter Summit: They put it all right out there. Summiteers have a vision for America. It’s a nightmarish theocracy where LGBT Americans, non-Christians, progressive and moderate Christians, women, non-believers and others would find their rights curtailed, if not gone entirely.</p><p>Every year, the forces of retrogression and oppression spend two days plotting to knock down the church-state wall and raise the banner for their vision of a “godly” society based on “Christian” values. They outline their plan and vow to bring it about. Onward go the Christian soldiers.</p><p>We can’t say we weren’t warned.</p><p>P.S. Be sure to visit “The Wall of Separation” on Monday. Simon will have some thoughts on this year’s Summit. For more on what this event is like, <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/november-2011-church-state/featured/bombast-bigotry-and-the-bible">here is a personal reflection</a> I wrote about the 2011 confab.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/values-voter-summit">Values Voter Summit</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/newt-gingrich">Newt Gingrich</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/star-parker">Star Parker</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/glenn-beck">Glenn Beck</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/herman-cain">Herman Cain</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/howard-beale">Howard Beale</a></span></div></div>Fri, 26 Sep 2014 15:08:43 +0000Rob Boston10530 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/unfantastic-five-a-remembrance-of-values-voter-summits-past#commentsOath Oaf: Religious Right Columnist Calls For Religious Tests In Militaryhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/oath-oaf-religious-right-columnist-calls-for-religious-tests-in-military
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">To reject atheists – individuals who love their county and want to protect it through service in the Armed Forces – because they don’t have the proper &#039;religiously correct&#039; view isn’t just short-sighted, it is downright un-American.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Bryan Fischer, the director of issues analysis for the American Family Association (AFA), is like a demented, right-wing geyser: You can count on him to pop off regularly.</p><p>Fischer’s latest eruption is quite a doozy. In a <a href="http://onenewsnow.com/perspectives/bryan-fischer/2014/09/10/no-atheist-should-be-permitted-to-serve-in-the-us-military?utm_source=OneNewsNow&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=16779175&amp;utm_content=105486778159&amp;utm_campaign=15018">Sept. 10 column</a> provocatively titled, “No atheist should be permitted to serve in the U.S. military,” Fischer argues that, well, no atheist should be permitted to serve in the U.S. military.</p><p>“There is no place in the United States military for those who do not believe in the Creator who is the source of every single one of our fundamental human and civil rights,” Fischer writes. “Serving in the military is a privilege, not a constitutional right. And it should be reserved for those who have America's values engraved on their hearts.”</p><p>He adds, “A man who doesn't believe in the Creator the Founders trusted certainly can live in America without being troubled for being a fool. But he most certainly should not wear the uniform.”</p><p>The AFA’s chief of cackle took up this rant after the American Humanist Association (AHA) publicized the case of an anonymous airman in Nevada who was denied the ability to reenlist because he refused to take an oath ending in “So help me God.”</p><p>As the <em>Air Force Times</em> reported, “The airman was told his only options were to sign the religious oath section of the contract without adjustment and recite an oath concluding with ‘so help me God,’ or leave the Air Force, the AHA said.”</p><p>The AHA argues that’s unconstitutional. Americans United agrees. We sent <a href="https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/americans-united-asks-air-force-not-to-bar-atheist-who-refused-to-take">a letter</a> to Pentagon officials Tuesday, advising them that they are violating this airman’s rights. The letter pointed out that the Air Force policy violates both the First Amendment and Article VI of the U.S. Constitution and concluded, “Please promptly bring the Air Force into compliance with the U.S. Constitution and allow the airman to take his oath without invoking God.”</p><p>We hope this matter will be cleared up soon. The issue of Fischer’s confusion, however, is unlikely to be cleared up quickly. Put simply, the man is an extremist who, for all of his talk of the Founders, neither understands nor appreciates this nation’s founding principles.</p><p>Fischer blathers on about how “real” Americans love God and thus should have no qualms about swearing a religious oath.</p><p>Bryan Fischer, meet Roger Williams. The founder of Rhode Island and17th-century religious liberty pioneer knew why mandatory religious oaths were dangerous.</p><p>“A magistrate ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man,” Williams observed. He asserted that doing so would cause the oath taker “to take the name of God in vain.”</p><p>Right on, Roger! There are practical matters at issue here, too. We’re battling ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In Russia, Vladimir Putin continues his saber rattling. The Middle East, as always, is a tinderbox. In light of this unsettled global picture we’d have to be crazy to turn away enthusiastic and talented non-believers who want to serve their nation. We need all the help we can get.</p><p>(And please, let’s not hear any of that foolishness about there being no atheists in foxholes. I’m not a veteran and haven’t spent time in any foxholes, but I know plenty of atheists, humanists, agnostics and so on who have served and who retained their lack of belief in a deity all through their enlistment – even when under fire.)</p><p>To reject such people – individuals who love their country and want to protect it through service in the Armed Forces – because they don’t have the proper “religiously correct” view isn’t just short-sighted, it is downright un-American.</p><p>Fischer concludes his ugly rant with this gem: “Military service should be reserved for genuine Americans – and genuine Americans, like the Founders, believe in God.”</p><p>As usual, he’s wrong. “Genuine Americans” respect the right of conscience and celebrate the freedom to believe, or not, as that conscience dictates. People who feel differently about this, like Fischer, are still Americans, but there is a more fitting term for them: bigots.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-mottos-pledges-and-resolutions-outside-schools">Religious Mottos, Pledges and Resolutions (outside schools)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/workplace-discrimination-exemptions-religious-practice">In the Workplace: Discrimination, Exemptions &amp; Religious Practice</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/roger-williams">Roger Williams</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-humanist-association">American Humanist Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/isis">ISIS</a></span></div></div>Thu, 11 Sep 2014 15:08:28 +0000Rob Boston10479 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/oath-oaf-religious-right-columnist-calls-for-religious-tests-in-military#commentsFall From Grace: What The Religious Right Should Learn From The McDonnell Scandalhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fall-from-grace-what-the-religious-right-should-learn-from-the-mcdonnell
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Travel back with me to 2009: Robert McDonnell was campaigning for Virginia governor, and TV preacher Pat Robertson was ecstatic.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Leaders of Religious Right groups are fond of telling us that if we elect more fundamentalist Christians to office, we’ll have less corruption. Biblical literalists must be more ethical, right?</p><p>That claim is looking a little thin in light of recent events in Virginia. Yesterday, Robert F. McDonnell, the state’s former governor, was <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcdonnell-jury-in-third-day-of-deliberations/2014/09/04/0e01ff88-3435-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html?tid=pm_pop">found guilty</a> on 11 counts related to public corruption, conspiracy and bribery. His wife, Maureen, whom this "family values" politican tried willingly to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-robert-mcdonnell-throws-his-wife-under-the-bus-at-trial/2014/08/21/664c5ebe-2971-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html">throw under the bus</a>, was found guilty on nine charges.</p><p>The McDonnells were accused of essentially selling influence in exchange for gifts, lavish vacations and sweetheart loans of $120,000 from a wealthy businessman named Jonnie R. Williams Sr. McDonnell is the first Virginia governor to be charged with a crime and the first convicted of one.</p><p>It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Travel back with me to 2009. McDonnell was campaigning for the governor’s mansion, and TV preacher Pat Robertson was ecstatic.</p><p>You see, McDonnell had attended Robertson’s Regent University. In fact, a master’s thesis he wrote while there briefly <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/october-2009-church-state/people-events/regent-university-thesis-becomes-hot-issue-in">became a campaign issue</a>. Robertson was excited to think that one of his own would soon lead the Old Dominion.</p><p>McDonnell won the race easily and soon set out to establish <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/virginia-reels-religious-right-gov-dances-to-pat-robertson%E2%80%99s-tune">godly rule in Virginia</a>. Speaking at Regent, he vowed to bring “servant leadership” to the state.</p><p>“It reflects those words of Jesus, who said that the greatest among you is the servant of all, and the fact that he came not to be served, but to serve,” McDonnell said. “I think that is the model for servant leadership.”</p><p>In reality, this “servant leadership” tended to look like the same old Religious Right agenda. When state officials decided that police chaplains should use non-sectarian prayers at public events, <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2010/04/mcdonnell-rescinds-state-police-prayer-policy-referring-jesus">McDonnell rescinded</a> the order. McDonnell’s obsession with blocking access to legal abortion earned him the nickname <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/virginia-gov-bob-mcdonnell-signs-virginia-ultrasound-bill/">“Gov. Ultrasound.”</a> He drew up <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/adopting-bias-new-va-rules-seek-to-safeguard-%E2%80%98faith-based%E2%80%99-bigotry">new rules</a> allowing tax-funded “faith-based” adoption agencies to deny services to anyone who failed to meet a strict theological litmus test. He signed a law mandating that public colleges in Virginia give funding to student groups even if they discriminate on religious grounds. McDonnell appointed a private school voucher advocate as education secretary and shifted funding for sex education from comprehensive programs to “abstinence-only” approaches that critics say are often anchored in religion.</p><p>McDonnell also pushed for a state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage (which was later approved by the voters) and even appeared on Robertson’s “700 Club” to lobby for it. <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/pat-loves-bobby-robertson-mcdonnell-push-marriage-amendment">McDonnell told</a> a beaming Robertson, “From the Garden of Eden to 2006, we’ve believed that marriage is between a man and a woman. But because of some social trends out there and some court decisions, Pat, as you know, marriage is under attack.”</p><p>(Robertson, of course, is sticking by McDonnell and, as he is wont to do, has fashioned <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/no-one-spins-conspiracy-theory-tv-preacher-pat-robertson">a conspiracy theory</a> to explain it all: You see, President Barack Obama is to blame!)</p><p><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/09/mcdonnell_17.html">McDonnell spoke</a> at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit in 2010 and 2012. Telegenic and polished, he was seen as a Religious Right rising star. There was talk about putting him on a future Republican ticket as vice president.</p><p>All of that came crashing down when McDonnell was indicted in January.</p><p>Look, politicians and public figures can let their supporters down. It happens. But it seems to happen to the Religious Right pretty often. And usually, despite their high-handed moralizing, they don’t seem to care.</p><p>Recall how they rallied behind serial adulterer Newt Gingrich. Consider how they never said a peep when U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) admitted to consorting with prostitutes. Watch them prop up Dinesh D'Souza as he begs a federal court not to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/03/us-usa-politics-dsouza-idUSKBN0GY2EW20140903">send him to prison</a> for violating campaign-finance laws.</p><p>See them throw money at an obvious political hack like Ralph Reed whose main philosophy seems to be “the ends justify the means.” Watch them support right-wing organizations that advocate <a href="http://www.speakupmovement.org/church/LearnMore/details/4702">openly violating federal law</a> to get their people elected to office.</p><p>Listen to their leaders denounce LGBT Americans in vile language. Observe as they swoon over divisive extremists like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Bryan Fischer, Tony Perkins, Ben Carson, Sean Hannity, ad nauseam whose primary goal is to line their pockets by setting one group of Americans against another. Go to one of their meetings and be appalled as they feed on a steady diet of hate, fear and rage.</p><p>And remember, these are the people who feel ordained by God to judge the rest of us.</p><p>Based on the politicians and leaders they’ve been backing lately, I’d say it’s time for them to take a break and do some soul searching.</p><p>I’d recommend they start by consulting their own holy book – you know, the one they’re always happy to bash us with. Specifically, they should examine the 7th chapter of the Book of Matthew and the words of Jesus: “Why do you look at the speck of dust that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?...You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/robert-mcdonnell">Robert McDonnell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/maureen-mcdonnell">Maureen McDonnell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pat-robertson">Pat Robertson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/virginia">virginia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ben-carson">Ben Carson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sean-hannity">Sean Hannity</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sarah-palin">sarah palin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/glenn-beck">Glenn Beck</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span></div></div>Fri, 05 Sep 2014 14:47:15 +0000Rob Boston10469 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fall-from-grace-what-the-religious-right-should-learn-from-the-mcdonnell#commentsRotten In Denmark?: AFA’s Fischer Distorts Danish Same-Sex Marriage Law To Scare U.S. Fundamentalists https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/rotten-in-denmark-afa-s-fischer-distorts-danish-same-sex-marriage-law-to
<a href="/about/people/ms-sarah-jones">Sarah Jones</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">While it is certainly true that in Denmark, same-sex couples have a legal right to be married in a church in some cases, Fischer neglects to mention the reason why that is so: Denmark has a state church. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Bryan Fischer isn’t exactly known for his tolerance toward the LGBT community – or his respect for facts. But in his regular column for One News Now, Fischer, who is director of issues analysis for the American Family Association, resurrected a two-year old story to tell particularly bold falsehood about same-sex marriage and religious liberty.<br /><br />“According to the London Telegraph, a new law passed by the Danish parliament ‘make(s) it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages.’ No options, no exceptions, no choice. Homosexuals are to be married wherever they want, regardless of whose conscience is trampled and whose sanctuary is defiled in the process,” Fischer <a href="http://onenewsnow.com/perspectives/bryan-fischer/2014/06/11/churches-ordered-to-perform-sodomy-based-wedding-ceremonies">wrote</a>, arguing that religious liberty is under direct attack by legal same-sex marriage.<br /><br />“While an individual priest may not be compelled to perform such weddings,” he went on, “his bishop has been ordered (under threat of what?) to find a replacement for him so that the priest's church can be used. Thus an individual priest can no longer protect the spiritual integrity of his own house of worship.”<br /><br />But there’s more to Denmark’s law, which passed in 2012, than Fischer acknowledges in his column.<br /><br />While it is certainly true that in Denmark, same-sex couples have a legal right to be married in a church in some cases, Fischer neglects to mention the reason why that is so: Denmark has a state church. The law applies quite specifically to that state church.<br /><br />“With the legalization of gay marriage, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark [which is the state church], is required to allow same-sex couples to marry in churches,” the Pew Research Center notes in a <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/19/gay-marriage-around-the-world-2013/#denmark">2013 explainer</a> on same-sex marriage laws around the world.</p><p>It’s hardly a blanket rule: Pew goes on to state that other religious groups are exempt from the law.<br /><br />Catholic churches, for example, aren’t required to host same-sex marriage ceremonies, a fact the Vatican noted just this week. “For the moment we [the Catholic Church] are not worried,” Niels Messerschmidt, a representative of the Catholic Diocese of Copenhagen, <a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/06/10/catholic_church_not_affected_by_new_same-sex_marriage_law_/1101583">told</a> Vatican Radio.<br /><br />So not only does Danish law protect the individual conscience rights of clergy in its state church, it imposes nothing on churches that are not affiliated with the state. That’s hardly a religious liberty crisis. Moreover, it’s nonsensical to claim, as Fischer does, that the law is a harbinger of nightmares to come in the United States.<br /><br />“How long will it be before American churches will be ordered, as a condition of maintaining their tax-exempt status, to host same-sex ceremonies? How long will it be before American pastors are ordered to perform them?” he whines.</p><p>The answer is never.<br /><br />The United States does not have a state church. Courtesy of the First Amendment, it will never have a state church. There is a significant difference between the tax-exempt status currently enjoyed by all clergy, regardless of their religious affiliation, and the establishment of a state church, which is directly supported by public funds. The government has a say in the affairs of the latter, but not the former.<br /><br />So what does Fischer have to say about the First Amendment?<br /><br />It doesn’t rate a mention in his column on Denmark. But previous pontifications on the subject grant insight into his perspective. Although Fischer has stated that he doesn’t support the establishment of a state church, he has publicly claimed that the First Amendment <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/29/1021403/-Bryan-Fischer-First-Amendment-only-protects-Christians">only applies to Christians</a>. And in a previous column, he called the wall of separation between church and state “<a href="http://onenewsnow.com/perspectives/bryan-fischer/2013/08/29/mlk-didn%E2%80%99t-believe-in-separation-of-church-and-state">completely mythical</a>.”<br /><br />It's sadly ironic. The one thing that prevents the government from telling churches what to do – separation of church and state – is loathed by Fischer. Rather than hyperventilate about Denmark, Fischer should be grateful that church-state separation, as set out by the First Amendment, prevents a similar situation from occurring in the United States.<br /><br />Acknowledging this would mean that Fischer (and the American Family Association) would have to stop their assault on the wall of separation. But as long as he believes that his interpretation of Christianity deserves to be enforced by the government, Fischer’s in no position to criticize Denmark.<br /> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/marriage-including-same-sex-marriage">Marriage (including same-sex Marriage)</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/denmark">Denmark</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/same-sex-marriage">same-sex marriage</a></span></div></div>Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:35:51 +0000Ms. Sarah Jones10145 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/rotten-in-denmark-afa-s-fischer-distorts-danish-same-sex-marriage-law-to#commentsTo Russia, With Hate: U.S. Anti-Gay Cultural Warriors Bring Olympic-Sized Homophobia To Eastern Europe https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/to-russia-with-hate-us-anti-gay-cultural-warriors-bring-olympic-sized
<a href="/about/people/ms-sarah-jones">Sarah Jones</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Last year, the Russian parliament approved a ban on what it termed “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations,” targeted at minors. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The world’s eyes are on Russia.<br /><br />That’s probably little surprise, since the country is set to host the Winter Olympics next month. But its anti-gay policies threaten to distract from the Olympic pageantry as a government crackdown on LGBT activists raises global ire.<br /><br />Last year, the Russian parliament approved a ban on what it termed “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations,” targeted at minors. The terminology might be vague, but the consequences are proving severe: The laws have thrown the country’s LGBT community into a state of fear, essentially freezing their free-speech rights.<br /><br />The laws are propelled by swelling anti-gay sentiment, partially incited by the powerful Russian Orthodox Church. The church made headlines again today after its spokesman called for a national referendum on the total criminalization of homosexuality.</p><p>“I am convinced that such sexual contacts should be completely excluded from the life of our society,” Vsevolod Chaplin <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/russia-39-church-urges-gay-sex-ban-referendum-132429992--oly.html">told</a> the press.<br /><br />He added, “If we manage to do this through moral pressure, all the better. But if we need to revert to assistance from the law, then let us ask the people if they are ready for this.”<br /><br />It wouldn’t be the first time Russia criminalized same-sex relationships; <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-anti-gay-bill-passes-protesters-detained/">Josef Stalin</a> made the same move during his oppressive tenure in power. But why would Russia consider such a regressive move now?<br /><br />The answer is complex, but part of the answer can be found close to home: American fundamentalist missionaries have been active in Russia, and they haven’t just been spreading the gospel.<br /><br />“Yes, I think I influenced the Russian law,” Scott Lively recently <a href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/18/20546485-the-rainbow-belongs-to-god-anti-gay-us-pastor-sets-sights-on-sochi-olympics?lite">told</a> NBC recently. Lively, a minister based in Massachusetts, is the author of <em>The Pink Swastika</em>, which pins blame for the Holocaust on gay men.<br /><br />He’s also the subject of an ongoing lawsuit over his activities in Uganda, where he drummed up support for the country’s infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Lively has appeared regularly before the Ugandan parliament, and on television broadcasts produced by Uganda’s most outspoken anti-gay pastor, Martin Ssempa.<br /><br />Uganda’s bill originally proposed the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality;” the version recently passed by its parliament proposes life imprisonment instead.<br /><br />The country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has yet to sign it into law, but the results of Lively’s campaign have alerady been catastrophic for Uganda.<br /><br />Anti-gay prejudice has erupted into violence, resulting in the murder of LGBT activist David Kato and the imprisonment of his peers. In response to the violence, and to Lively’s inflammatory work, Sexual Minorities of Uganda filed a human rights <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/08/16/judge-clears-path-for-groundbreaking-lawsuit-against-scott-lively/">lawsuit</a> in an American court. The suit hasn’t deterred Lively, who told the judge, “Come what may, I will continue to advocate for the biblical view of family until my final breath.”<br /><br />Lively previously served as the director of the American Family Association’s California branch, and Bryan Fischer, currently the organization’s director of issues analysis, vocally supports Russia’s new laws. On his radio show, “Focal Point,” he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/bryan-fischer-russia-gay-laws-_n_3707583.html">told</a> listeners, “Isn't this wonderful what Russia is doing? Let's celebrate diversity and let’s support this tradition in the nation of Russia.”<br /><br />LGBT rights have picked up steam in America of late, and some observers believe the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide is only a matter of time. But for Fischer, Lively, and their colleagues in the Religious Right, the fight’s far from over. They’ve simply exported it, globalizing hate as if it’s just another product of American industry.<br /><br />And they’ve been frighteningly successful. The former Soviet republics of Moldova and Lithuania have passed <a href="http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/moldova-secretly-passed-anti-lgbt-propaganda-law">bills</a> similar to Russia’s, and anti-gay prejudice is reportedly rising in <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/polands-catholics-and-socially-liberal-clash-on-gender-ideology-20140110-30mg2.html">Poland</a> and <a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/05/14/ukraine-parliaments-drops-gay-anti-discrimination-bill-as-hundreds-protest-against-it/">Ukraine</a>. <br /><br />As Russia considers its next moves, its government-sponsored persecution of sexual minorities should remind American observers that the need for a wall of separation between church and state cannot be understated, and that it’s unwise to dismiss Lively and his friends as members of a waning fringe.<br /><br />The Religious Right is clearly not going to concede defeat in its culture war. These groups remain as dedicated to their ideology as ever, and they’ve achieved a level of success overseas that they’ve been denied on our shores.</p><p>If you doubt that, just ask an LGBT activist in Russia – if you can find any willing to speak publicly. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/russia">Russia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/uganda">Uganda</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/homophobia">homophobia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/scott-lively">Scott Lively</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span></div></div>Fri, 10 Jan 2014 17:22:50 +0000Ms. Sarah Jones9562 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/to-russia-with-hate-us-anti-gay-cultural-warriors-bring-olympic-sized#commentsFischer’s Fantasy: American Family Association Official Claims States Can Ban Islamhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fischer-s-fantasy-american-family-association-official-claims-states-can
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Maybe each state could create a Department of Religious Purity to sniff out those believers who have the temerity to worship in ways that fail to please Bryan Fischer and his band of Religious Thought Police.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Bryan Fischer, the director of issue analysis for government and public policy at the American Family Association (AFA), makes it a point to say something offensive pretty much every day.</p><p>Fischer first came to Americans United’s attention back in 2009, <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/october-2009-church-state/featured/of-piety-partisanship">when he told attendees</a> of the Religious Right’s “Values Voter Summit” that Adolf Hitler invented the separation of church and state.</p><p>Some months after that, in May of 2010, Fischer penned a column insisting that a killer whale at SeaWorld that had caused the death of a trainer should be <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/whale-tale-afa-staffer-says-bible-mandates-death-for-seaworld-orca">stoned to death</a> because the Bible mandates it.</p><p>It’s hard to top crazy like that, but Fischer gives it a try on a regular basis. Earlier this week, he told his radio audience that states have the right to ban Islam and to order the destruction of mosques.</p><p>Our friends at People For the American Way’s “Right Wing Watch” <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-constitution-give-states-right-outlaw-islam">noted that Fischer</a> was reacting to a report that the country of Angola has banned Islam and is closing up mosques. As it turns out, this story looks to be <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/11/angola-denies-reports-banning-islam-2013112782236279392.html">false</a>, but it gave Fischer the opening he wanted.</p><p>Ranted Fischer, “And you ask yourself the question, ‘Well, can we do that here? Could we do that in the United States? Could we make Islam illegal? Could we prohibit the building of mosques?’ And the answer is yes!”</p><p>Fischer went on to outline his creative theory: See, the First Amendment begins with the word “Congress” so it only applies to the federal government. It’s only a modern interpretation, he insisted, that applies the amendment to the states.</p><p>This is true only if you consider 1868 to be “modern.” That’s when the Fourteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution. As the U.S. Supreme Court had made clear, this amendment applies key provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states.</p><p>But let’s say the Fourteenth Amendment had never passed, and states had the right to ban Islam or indeed any other religion.</p><p>Who could possibly think that would be a good idea? Short of tyranny or a police state, how would it even be implemented? Would our police divert precious time from investigating serious crimes to round up Muslims (or suspected Muslims), burn their Qurans and raid their meetings? What would happen to these people? Would they be shipped off to prisons or detainment camps?</p><p>Maybe each state could create a Department of Religious Purity to sniff out those believers who have the temerity to worship in ways that fail to please Fischer and his band of Religious Thought Police.</p><p>I have to wonder if Fischer has ever read a history book. This type of persecution has been tried over and over again. And every time the fruits are the same: violence, torture, death and war. And here’s the biggest irony of all: The religion that is being targeted for persecution often emerges even stronger. (Gee, I seem to recall something like that happening to Fischer’s own religion once. I’m talking to you, <a href="http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/553109">Roman Emperor Diocletian!</a>)</p><p>I know that Fischer sometimes says these things to stir up the “libruls” and get mentioned on blogs like this. If he were some sort of freelance loon sitting in his mom’s basement posting to an obscure blog he would not be worth our time. That’s not the case. Fischer is in the employ of one of the nation’s largest Religious Right groups, an organization that claims to be harmlessly speaking up for “family values” and faith. It’s also an organization that, I’m sorry to say, has the ears of some powerful people in Washington, D.C.</p><p>That organization gives Fischer a national platform to spew his dreams of religious oppression and tyranny. I can only conclude that it must agree with him.</p><p>What does this say about the AFA? Well, mainly that the people who run it are either very foolish or very dangerous – and quite possibly both.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-free-exercise-issues-including-rfras-zoning-etc">Other Free Exercise Issues (including RFRAs, zoning, etc.)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/angola">Angola</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/islam">Islam</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/right-wing-watch">Right Wing Watch</a></span></div></div>Fri, 29 Nov 2013 15:10:10 +0000Rob Boston9293 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fischer-s-fantasy-american-family-association-official-claims-states-can#commentsRetreating Or Repositioning?: Southern Baptists And The ‘Culture War’https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/retreating-or-repositioning-southern-baptists-and-the-culture-war
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Is the Southern Baptist Convention surrendering in the &#039;culture war&#039;? Not quite. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>When the Religious Right started to become a prominent force in American politics in the late 1970s, its advocates had a major impact on the country’s largest Protestant denomination: the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).</p><p>Younger readers may be surprised to read that the SBC, which claims 16 million members, used to be fairly moderate on social issues. It strongly supported the separation of church and state, citing historical Baptist leaders like <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/october-2004-church-state/featured/legacy-of-liberty">John Leland</a> and Isaac Backus.</p><p>But during the 1980s, the denomination fell to a well-organized fundamentalist bloc and flipped many of its positions. The SBC became closely aligned with the Religious Right and the Republican Party. It enlisted as a full-time combatant in the “culture war.”</p><p>In Washington, D.C., the SBC was represented by its lobbyist, Richard Land. Land pushed the denomination into even closer alignment with the GOP, often handicapping the prospects of Republican presidential candidates in the media. Land appeared at Religious Right meetings and never hesitated to reach for <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/extreme-lobbying-southern-baptists-richard-land-defends-nazi-analogies">the most lurid rhetoric</a>.</p><p>Land retired from the SBC in 2013. His successor, Russell Moore, is, according to a recent <em>Wall Street Journal</em><a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424127887324755104579072722223166570-lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwMjEyNDIyWj"> profile,</a> interested in stepping back from the culture wars.</p><p>The <em>Journal</em> reports that Moore believes it is time to dial down the rhetoric and pull back from partisan politics. He cites a “visceral recoil” among younger evangelicals to heavy handed church-based politicking.</p><p>“We are involved in the political process, but we must always be wary of being co-opted by it,” Moore said. “Christianity thrives when it is clearest about what distinguishes it from the outside culture.”</p><p>OK, what’s really going on here? I suspect several factors are at play.</p><p>First of all, short of giving the job to <a href="http://ffcoalition.com/">Ralph Reed</a>, it would have been next to impossible for the SBC to have hired a replacement more extreme and more partisan than Land. This is the guy, after all, who <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/land-s-end-sort-of-beleaguered-southern-baptist-lobbyist-heads-for">once spoke</a> of his desire to “consummate” the relationship between right-wing evangelicals and the GOP, compared Hillary Clinton to a witch and called U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer that “schmuck from New York.”</p><p>In comparison to Land, just about anyone would look more moderate.</p><p>Secondly, the use of less strident language is nice, but it doesn’t mean that the SBC’s policy positions are going to change. In fact, the <em>Journal</em> article makes it clear that the SBC has no plans to soften any of its far-right stands on issues like religion in public education, LGBT rights, reproductive rights, etc.</p><p>Sure, they’ll talk nicer while they push for theocracy. Big deal.</p><p>Thirdly, some of this appears to be a public relations stunt. The leaders of the SBC know they have a problem with younger people, so they are toning down the rhetoric in the hopes that more congregants won’t jump ship. This may fool some people, but again, it’s not a change of policy. (See point two above.)</p><p>Over at the American Family Association, Bryan Fischer, the poor man’s Glenn Beck,<a href="http://www.onenewsnow.com/perspectives/bryan-fischer/2013/10/23/southern-baptists-sounding-full-scale-retreat-in-culture-war#.UmfJnmvoApA.twitter"> is on the warpath</a>, asserting that Moore is leading the SBC into a position of surrender.</p><p>“Since one man’s ‘pullback’ is another’s ‘full-scale retreat,’ social conservatives have a right to raise questions about the new course Moore is setting for the SBC,” Fischer bemoaned. Elsewhere he added, “Moore seems to have forgotten that Christ has not called us to be nice but to be good. Nice people never confront evil, but good people do.”</p><p>But Fischer throws a fit every day. It’s what he’s paid to do – be perpetually outraged and outrageous. We can hardly look to him for sound analysis of any issue outside of how to build really strong tinfoil hats.</p><p>I don’t see this as a retreat in the culture wars by the SBC, and it’s certainly not a surrender. I’d call it a tactical repositioning.</p><p>So keep your guard up. I suspect we haven’t seen the last of the SBC’s salvos against the church-state wall.</p><p>P.S. Remember, not all Baptists agree with the SBC on church-state issues. Our good friends at the<a href="http://www.bjcpa.org/"> Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty </a>have stood alongside AU for years, arguing for the traditional Baptist principle of freedom of conscience for all.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/russell-moore">Russell Moore</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/richard-land">richard land</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/southern-baptist-convention">Southern Baptist Convention</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-leland">John Leland</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/baptist-joint-committee-religious-liberty">Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty</a></span></div></div>Wed, 23 Oct 2013 14:58:05 +0000Rob Boston9080 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/retreating-or-repositioning-southern-baptists-and-the-culture-war#commentsValues Void: Religious Right Group Says Southern Poverty Law Center Is ‘Agent Of Hate’ https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/values-void-religious-right-group-says-southern-poverty-law-center-is-agent
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Is the American Family Association extreme? Judge for yourself. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>A few days ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/members-of-congress-urged-to-not-legitimize-extremism-by-speaking-at-values-voter-">a press release</a> urging members of Congress not to attend the Family Research Council’s annual “Values Voter Summit,” which kicks off today.</p><p>The SPLC noted that the FRC and the American Family Association (AFA), which co-sponsors the Summit, “have long records of vilifying the LGBT community and spreading other forms of bigotry.”</p><p>In response, the AFA issued a press statement accusing the SPLC of being “an agent of hate by mindlessly and recklessly stirring up animosity against Americans who share the Christian values of the Founders.”</p><p>Furthermore, the AFA asserts, the SPLC is “a shameless fund-raising scam” that uses “innuendo, lies and manufactured charges” to rake in money. The SPLC’s crime, it seems, is that it has been raising funds to build an endowment – a fairly typical thing for non-profits to do.</p><p>Does the AFA spread bigotry? Is the group extreme? We can best answer those questions by examining some things that Bryan Fischer, the AFA’s director of issue analysis for government and public policy, has said within the past few years. Fischer has become a rock star in the world of the Religious Right by making outrageous statements. The AFA has made no effort to reel him in. </p><p>Here are just a few of Fischer’s greatest hits: </p><p><em>September 2013:</em> Fischer says that liberals plan to<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-liberals-seek-eliminate-us-public-society"> “eliminate” conservative Christians</a> from society and force them into special zones where they’ll be required to wear identifying badges – just like Nazi Germany.</p><p><em>June 2013:</em> In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/mad-over-marriage-religious-right-responds-to-today-s-supreme-court-rulings">Fischer tweets</a>, “With the DOMA decision, we have ceased to be a constitutional republic. The words “We the people’ are now meaningless” and “The DOMA ruling has now made the normalization of polygamy, pedophilia, incest and bestiality inevitable. Matter of time.”</p><p><em>May 2013:</em> Men, Fischer <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/29/christian-radio-host-upset-by-female-breadwinners-women-not-designed-to-be-providers/">patiently explains</a>, are “designed to be breadwinners for their families.” Women, on the other hand, are supposed to focus on “making a home for her children and for her husband.” If a woman works outside the home and earns more than her husband, Fischer said, “that’s gonna put some stress on his psyche, gonna put some stress on that marriage.”</p><p><em>March 2011:</em> Fischer writes <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fischer-foolishness-religious-right-ranter-says-only-christians-have">a blog post </a>in which he opines that non-Christians have no legal rights in the United States. The First Amendment, he said, “was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity.” Fischer went on to assert, “From a constitutional point of view, Muslims have no First Amendment right to build mosques in America. They have that privilege at the moment, but it is a privilege that can be revoked if, as is in fact the case, Islam is a totalitarian ideology dedicated to the destruction of the United States.”</p><p><em>February 2011:</em> Native Americans, Fischer <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/radio-evangelist-preaches-an-ugly-message-18550">writes in a column</a>, deserved to have their land taken from them due to their “superstition, savagery and sexual immorality.” Observed Fischer, “The native American tribes at the time of the European settlement and founding of the United States were, virtually without exception, steeped in the basest forms of superstition, had been guilty of savagery in warfare for hundreds of years, and practiced the most debased forms of sexuality.”</p><p><em>March 2010:</em> Fischer opines that a killer whale at SeaWorld that killed its trainer must be <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/whale-tale-afa-staffer-says-bible-mandates-death-for-seaworld-orca">stoned to death</a> because that’s the biblical penalty for animals that cause the death of a human.</p><p><em>September 2009:</em> Addressing the Values Voter Summit, Fischer tells the crowd that <a href="https://au.org/church-state/october-2009-church-state/featured/of-piety-partisanship">Adolf Hitler invented the separation of church and state</a>. “Politics do not belong in the church, the church must be separate from the state – these two mottos, these two slogans…came directly from the mind of Adolf Hitler,” Fischer remarked. “Those two mottos, those two slogans, were official mottos, official slogans, of the Nazi Party.”</p><p>That’s just a sample of what the AFA’s star employee has been saying over the past few years. And what about the SPLC? What has it been up to?</p><p>Well, it has successfully sued a number of neo-Nazi groups (causing some of them to shut down), closely monitored white supremacist organizations and sounded the alarm about their activities, published data on hate groups and sponsored programs that educate young people about LGBT citizens and their rights – among other things.</p><p>I leave it to you to determine which group is extreme.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/values-voter-summit">Values Voter Summit</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/FRC">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/southern-poverty-law-center">Southern Poverty Law Center</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/defense-of-marriage-act">Defense of Marriage Act</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/native-americans">Native Americans</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/seaworld">SeaWorld</a></span></div></div>Fri, 11 Oct 2013 14:06:53 +0000Rob Boston9051 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/values-void-religious-right-group-says-southern-poverty-law-center-is-agent#commentsMad Over Marriage: Religious Right Responds To Today’s Supreme Court Rulings https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/mad-over-marriage-religious-right-responds-to-today-s-supreme-court-rulings
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> This is not a good day for the Religious Right.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>You could say that the American Family Association (AFA) isn’t pleased about today’s Supreme Court rulings on marriage equality.</p><p>By a 5-4 vote, the high court <a href="https://www.au.org/files/Windsor.pdf">struck down</a> the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), meaning that same-sex couples who are lawfully wed in states with marriage equality will have access to a range of federal benefits. This is a pretty big deal.</p><p>The court also dealt with a legal challenge to California’s Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage. The case was <a href="https://www.au.org/files/Perry.pdf">dismissed on procedural grounds</a>. Most legal observers believe the practical effect of this will be to restore same-sex marriage to the Golden State.</p><p>In short, this is not a good day for the Religious Right.</p><p>Check out this tweet from Bryan Fischer, resident theocrat-in-chief at the Tupelo, Miss.-based AFA: “With the DOMA decision, we have ceased to be a constitutional republic. The words “We the people’ are now meaningless.”</p><p>Fischer then followed up with this gem: “The DOMA ruling has now made the normalization of polygamy, pedophilia, incest and bestiality inevitable. Matter of time.”</p><p>Fischer’s boss, Tim Wildmon, issued a statement that read in part, “We are deeply saddened by today’s decision to not only allow but encourage same-sex marriage in our country – a country that was founded on biblical principles. We mourn for America’s future, but we are not without hope.”</p><p>Wildmon added, “The homosexual lobby and agenda is running rampant across America, and is even pervading our elementary schools….Now, we must warn against the coming persecution, the barrage of criticism and the aggressive action of the homosexual agenda to indoctrinate and change the thoughts and convictions of Americans to accept this lifestyle as the new normal.”</p><p>Out in Arizona, the Alliance Defending Freedom also has a case of the grumpies: “This effectively means we will no longer have a national definition of marriage,” <a href="http://alliancedefendingfreedom.org/page/SCOTUS-Marriage-Decision">carped the group in a statement</a>. “The federal government may now be required to accept any legal definition of marriage that a particular state invents. This leads to many unanswered questions, new government burdens, and consequences that we will have more to say about in the coming days and weeks ahead as we analyze and further unpack this disappointing decision.”</p><p>Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, attempted an outrageous spin.</p><p>“While we are disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the court today did not impose the sweeping nationwide redefinition of natural marriage that was sought,” Perkins said <a href="http://www.frc.org/newsroom/supreme-courts-refusal-to-redefine-marriage-nationwide-allows-american-people-to-consider-consequences-of-redefinition">in a statement</a>. “Time is not on the side of those seeking to create same-sex ‘marriage.’ As the American people are given time to experience the actual consequences of redefining marriage, the public debate and opposition to the redefinition of natural marriage will undoubtedly intensify.” (Dude, <a href="http://www.omaha.com/article/20120510/NEWS01/705109882">what polls</a> are you looking at?)</p><p>Even the Christian Coalition (yep, that group is still around) got in on the act. Roberta Combs, president of the group, issued a petition supporting “traditional marriage” that reads in part, “[T]he Court has put state marriage laws at risk as well as the religious liberties of tens of millions of America’s Christians….The simple fact is that liberals cannot get their way at the ballot box, so they try to push their radical agenda through our nation's courts by convincing judges to overturn the will of the American people.”</p><p>The Liberty Counsel, a project affiliated with Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University, has been dilatory in getting out a statement. But earlier this week, <a href="http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14102&amp;AlertID=1625">the group opined</a>, “No matter what the Supreme Court decides, the battle over marriage will continue. This is the defining culture line.”</p><p>I actually kind of agree with Liberty Counsel on that one. This is a defining line – and the Religious Right is on the wrong side of it.</p><p>Today’s rulings won’t be the last word on this matter. The Religious Right is pledging massive resistance. Recently, dozens of luminaries from that movement came together to <a href="http://onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2013/06/24/marriage-redefinition-%E2%80%98a-line-we-will-not-cross%E2%80%99#.UcsI9Jz-Sd5">sign a statement </a>asserting that any high court ruling backing marriage equality would be illegitimate.</p><p>“As Christian citizens united together, we will not stand by while the destruction of the institution of marriage unfolds in this nation we love,” asserts the statement. “The Sacred Scriptures and unbroken teaching of the Church confirm that marriage is between one man and one woman. We stand together in solidarity to defend marriage and the family and society founded upon them. The effort to redefine marriage threatens the proper mediating role of the Church in society.”</p><p>The statement is a tad unclear about what these groups plan to do (hold their breath until they turn blue?) but concludes darkly, “[M]ake no mistake about our resolve. While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the true common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross.”</p><p>Americans United sees it differently. <a href="https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/supreme-court-marriage-decisions-advance-equality-while-preserving-religious">We’re pleased </a>that the narrow religious views of fundamentalist Christians won’t govern civil marriage law. At the same, we’ve pointed out repeatedly that no houses of worship anywhere will be forced to provide a ceremony for a same-sex couple. That sounds like real freedom to us.</p><p>If the polls are right, the Religious Right appears to be on the losing end of this battle. But it’s pretty clear that these groups don’t intend to go down quietly. Brace yourselves; I see plenty of turbulence ahead.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/marriage-including-same-sex-marriage">Marriage (including same-sex Marriage)</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/christian-coalition">Christian Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/alliance-defending-freedom">Alliance Defending Freedom</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-counsel">Liberty Counsel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tim-wildmon">Tim Wildmon</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/defense-of-marriage-act">Defense of Marriage Act</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/same-sex-marriage">same-sex marriage</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court">Supreme Court</a></span></div></div>Wed, 26 Jun 2013 16:52:09 +0000Rob Boston8702 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/mad-over-marriage-religious-right-responds-to-today-s-supreme-court-rulings#comments